Dark Persuasion - A History of Brainwashing From Pavlov to Social Media

A "highly readable and compelling" account (Science) of brainwashing's pervasive role in the twentieth and twenty-first centuries

"Riveting. . . . Dimsdale . . . shows how the art of dark persuasion a generation ago led almost inevitably to today's misinformation, cyberbullying and cultlike behavior on the Internet."--Dina Temple-Raston, Washington Post

This gripping book traces the evolution of brainwashing from its beginnings in torture and religious conversion into the age of neuroscience and social media. When Pavlov introduced scientific approaches, his research was enthusiastically supported by Lenin and Stalin, setting the stage for major breakthroughs in tools for social, political, and religious control.

Tracing these developments through many of the past century's major conflagrations, Dimsdale narrates how when World War II erupted, governments secretly raced to develop drugs for interrogation. Brainwashing returned to the spotlight during the Cold War in the hands of the North Koreans and Chinese. In response, a huge Manhattan Project of the Mind was established to study memory obliteration, indoctrination during sleep, and hallucinogens. Cults used the techniques as well. Nobel laureates, university academics, intelligence operatives, criminals, and clerics all populate this shattering and dark story--one that hasn't yet ended.

About the author

Joel E. Dimsdale is Distinguished Professor Emeritus in the Department of Psychiatry at University of California, San Diego. He consults widely to government agencies and is the author of numerous other works, including Anatomy of Malice: The Enigma of the Nazi War Criminals. He lives in San Diego, CA.

Summary

A harrowing account of brainwashing’s pervasive role in the twentieth and twenty-first centuries

Product details

• Authors: Joel E. Dimsdale, Dimsdale Joel E.
• Publisher: Yale University Press Ltd
• Languages: English
• Product format: Paperback / Softback
• Released: 09.05.2023
• EAN: 9780300271034
• ISBN: 978-0-300-27103-4
• No. of pages: 304
• Subjects: Humanities, art, music > History > 20th century (up to 1945); Non-fiction book > History > Miscellaneous; POLITICAL SCIENCE / Political Freedom, PSYCHOLOGY / Social Psychology, 20th Century, HISTORY / World, Psychology, 20th century history: c 1900 to c 2000, General & world history, 20th century, c 1900 to c 1999, Social, group or collective psychology, General and world history, Political control and freedoms, Political Control & Freedoms